A new tennis tournament called the United Cup is going to kick off the season this summer.
So what is it, and why should you care?
What is the United Cup?
The United Cup is a new tournament featuring men and women representing 18 countries, replacing the men-only ATP Cup that was held for the past three years.
Each team will have up to four men and up to four women, with teams facing off in four singles matches (two men's and two women's) and a mixed doubles match.
Round-robin matches will be played across three cities, with Brisbane, Sydney and Perth each hosting two groups of three countries from December 29 to January 4, before the top four face off in Sydney from January 6 to 8.
So each group of three countries is like a pool at a World Cup, with the winner of one pool in a city, playing off against the winner of that city's other pool.
Then the victors from each city, along with the next-best-performing team across the three cities, go to Sydney to play what are essentially semi-finals and then a grand final.
Who will be playing?
We don't know exactly yet, but we know Australia is guaranteed to field a team.
The first 12 countries competing will be decided by the top six men's and women's players from those countries on the ATP and WTA rankings.
"The remaining six teams will qualify according to the best combined ranking of the highest-ranked men's and women's players from the same country," organisers said.
For example, Spain is incredibly well represented at the top of the rankings, with men's world number one and two Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal, plus four other players in the ATP top 40 and Paula Badosa ranked 12th on the women's side.
So they would be in the first 12 countries, while somewhere like Greece has the fifth-ranked men's and women's players (Stefanos Tstitsipas and Maria Sakkari), but no-one else in either top 100. So they may qualify as one of the final six nations.
Tickets go on sale on November 11, after the draw a day earlier.
Isn't this like the failed Hopman Cup?
Yes and no.
Yes in the sense that it's a mixed-gender event, including singles and mixed doubles, to be played (at least partly) in Perth.
But the Hopman Cup turned into a hit-and-giggle tournament by the end, complete with all the edges-sanded-off Novak Djokovic "comedy" you could ask for.
The United Cup is offering rankings points for both men and women, as well as $US15 million ($23.2 million), which means it should attract top talent and the matches should be actual contests.
What do players think?
A lot of tennis players, including Australian star Nick Kyrgios, have spoken over the years about enjoying the opportunity to play in a team after decades of individual sport.
"As a tennis player often you are out there by yourself, it's often about you, but what I love about it is you'll be playing for something more than just yourself," retired Australian player Casey Dellacqua said.
Playing in team tournaments in the past has meant playing for few or no ranking points, or missing out on opportunities to collect fatter paycheques elsewhere.
But with 500 ranking points up for grabs (the same as many top singles tournaments through the year) and fat stacks on the table, there's no reason the United Cup shouldn't attract top talent.
"I think it's something that's been missing from our calendar for a while and I love to see the men and women competing together on the same court. It's something I'm very excited about," three-time grand slam winner Andy Murray said.
Murray also pointed out it could be good news for the Australian Open, which starts a week after the United Cup's final.
"Bringing all the players over to Australia as early as possible I think is good for the Aussie summer," Murray said.
"I think for the Australian Open to get lots of the top players on the men's and women's side across to Australia early and preparing is going to be really beneficial for the whole summer and especially the Australian Open."
